Masters of None

“Jack of all trades and master of none”. We’ve all heard this phrase describing people who dabble in many things but never really master anything. This can be a good thing when you are looking for general, easy to accomplish tasks. For example, the handyman who can repair a leaking faucet, paint a bedroom, replace an outlet, or hang a chandelier. But what if you were looking to install or replace an entire HVAC system – would you revert to the lowest cost handyman? Heck no!

This is the frustration I have with many Business Intelligence (BI) contractors in the market. You can go on LinkedIn and see thousands of consultancies and people claiming to be experts in multiple technologies including Qlik. Many of them offer low cost services to entice customers to leverage their resources. They claim to have deep skills but often have little to no expertise other than a casual exposure to the software they are representing. Far too often, customers try to go the ‘cheap route’ and find out the hard way their time and money was wasted. Going back and unwinding something that was done incorrectly is far costlier than just doing it right the first time.

Assuming you agree that analytics can transform a company and drive meaningful business outcomes, why would you go with a generalist and not a qualified expert to ensure your success? In other words, don’t hire the handyman to install a sophisticated HVAC system.

If you have an analytics project in your organization, I recommend starting by filtering out the ‘pretenders from the contenders’. Do your homework. Don’t rely on a LinkedIn profile or resume along with a cheap proposal to make your decision. With Qlik’s products, a great way to start is simply asking for proof of their Qlik Sense or QlikView Certification. While it’s not the only thing you should check, it’s a good starting point to ensure they have baseline education and skills. Next, ask for relevant customer case studies and references. Make sure they have successfully delivered similar projects before. Lastly, see what experience and assets can be leveraged as accelerators. Don’t be the ‘science experiment’ for your consultants – they should come to the table with some content and expertise which can help ensure your success. It’s also recommended you review your levels of education and support in parallel with your consulting needs.

Qlik has an incredible ecosystem of Partners and Qlik Services experts to assist you. You can find over 1,700 Qlik Partners on this website including Solution Partners, System Integrators, Technology Partners and OEMs. Each has their own area(s) of expertise so be sure to understand their unique value as it relates to Qlik. Qlik’s Customer Success Services are available for Consulting, Education/Training, Support and CSMs/Onboarding. Working with Qlik Services ensures you have the direct involvement and commitment from the vendor (Qlik!). But engaging with Qlik Services doesn’t have to be binary from working with Partners – we often work side by side to deliver an awesome experience for our customers.

Be sure to check out the above links and don’t hesitate to reach out to any of these resources to learn more.

Qlik’s @msaliter explains how to separate the Pretenders are from the Contenders when it comes to delivering a successful analytics project